Come Follow Me (Mar 6-12) Matthew 9–10; Mark 5; Luke 9 | For the One – powered by Happy Scribe

You know, studying the New Testament is like a voyage through the most amazing stories ever told. But what happens when we dive deeper into Christ’s parables and teachings to discover important details and powerful symbols. All aboard as we go below the surface of a few well known stories to find.

Treasures of meaning.

Went to Dacopolis, one of the few cities where he taught with more gentiles than Jews.

They soon met a lone, wild, miserable man possessed with lots of devils. Now, these devils know Jesus and his power and realize they’ve met their match but still plead to be in any precious body instead of being disembodied. Yes, these minions of Satan who’d lost the right to receive a body of their own know what a great gift physical bodies are and want one desperately, not caring what it looks like. So Jesus sends them into a herd of local pigs, freeing this poor man from his great torment. Yay, no bodies.

Oh, no.

Now, let’s dive deeper. We see that Jesus, the Savior, went completely out of his way to show love to the one. And not just anyone, he looks for the ones on the bottom. Jesus shattered hardened traditions of cleanliness to save this man. In Old Testament times, the cleanliness practice of the Israelites had important medical and cultural purposes. But over time, additional requirements crept into the law, and people could be harshly judged according to the new traditions. For Jewish culture at the time, everything in this story represents extreme unclean, going to a Gentile city, helping an outsider living in a graveyard possessed with devils, covered with blood and self inflicted wounds, acting crazy, around 2,000 pigs. Unclean, unclean, unclean. But this was Jesus’ entire purpose and example here. He went to the ends of his world to save this most wretched and filthy of men because this man’s soul is just as pure and godly as any of ours. He was redeemable, and so are we. And guess what? Christ calls him to be the first missionary among the gentiles. And he zealously told everyone how he was saved.

Now, if Jesus would go completely out of his way to redeem this filthy and tormented man, how much more will he reach into the deepest, darkest abyss for you and me if we let him? And how much more can we do for the many drowning souls out there that also need our help? Now, this was no random thing. This was a pure example of the power of his love for the woman. But immediately upon arriving back in Capernaum, crowds rushed Jesus. One is Jairus, a Synagog leader who pleads, My little daughter is near death. Please come and heal her. But while proceeding to Jairus’ home, Jesus stops. Power has left him and he realizes a woman with a blood issue has touched his tunnel and is immediately healed. Now, in this delay, Jairis gets the heartbreaking news that his daughter is now dead. But Jesus presses on to Jairis’ home and miraculously brings her back from the dead. You can see this full story on Living Scripture’s streaming. But as we go deeper, we see that for 12 years, this blood issue would have also made the woman unclean and an outcast. She’d spent all her money to be healed but was actually left worse financially, physically, and socially.

She had nothing left. And being stigmatized as unclean for 12 years is a heartbreaking long time to go without a hug. So though she wasn’t supposed to touch anyone, let alone a crowd of people, she desperately and courageously used all she had left for incredible faith, and turned it into action by literally reaching out to touch him. Yes, Jesus was her only hope. As Jesus asked, Who touched me? Instead of disappearing into the crowd, the woman boldly falls down before him and tells her story. And with love in his eyes, he says, Daughter, thy faith has made thee whole. So regardless of who reaches out to whom, Jesus can redeem those of us at the bottom, making us feel worthy, loved, and wholly healed. And even more important, he doesn’t just heal bodies. He heals hearts, minds, and spirits, too, for every last one of us.

But what about Jairus? Jesus is too late. His daughter is dead. He’s devastated. Jesus tells him, Don’t be afraid, only believe. After announcing that the damsel was sleeping, most of the people mocked Jesus. So Jesus sends the hecklers out and then takes the girl by the hand and says, Damsel, arise. So how does time, or lack of it, or waiting affect our faith? Jesus seemed unhurried on his way to Jairis’ house, even though everyone else was freaking out. Yep, sometimes it’s hard for us clock carrying alarm setting mortals to be on God’s schedule. We may feel like he’s slow to act or that he’s forgotten us, but his love and purposes are eternal. If we can just hang in there, we’ll see his power in our lives. Yes, as we dive deeper into the layers of these stories, we can deeply feel Jesus’s love for each of us. He loves the One. And no matter how much filth and shame we’re stuck in, or if we think time has run out, we can’t sink lower than his love.

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